On November 7th the Quebec government moved forward with the Quebec Charter of Values, formerly known as Bill 60. The Charter, which would prohibit public sector employees in Quebec from wearing any clothing, headgear, or jewellery that indicate religious affiliation, has been the subject of much heat and controversy, with many claiming it to be discriminatory and against the human rights doctrine that Canada stands for.
There have been numerous protests and backlash concerning Bill 60. Both Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital and the English Montreal School Board have recently made news for publically opposing the Charter. On November 29, I had the pleasure of opening up my McGill email to a message from the Chair of McGill’s Board of Governors Stuart Cobbett and the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill Suzanne Fortier, signifying McGill University’s rejection of the ban on the right to wear religious garments as invoked by the Charter.
In addition to formal institutional rejections of the Charter, other groups have also been making headlines for their thoughts on Bill 60. One of these groups is the controversial feminist extremist movement Femen Quebec, known for protestors going topless during demonstraitons. In early October, the group made headlines due to members’ topless protest at a Quebec National Assembly meeting.
In fact, during the parliamentary proceedings, three women ripped off their tops while chanting “Crucifix, décalisse”, Quebec sacrilegious slang meaning “Crucifix, get the hell out of here”, according to The Huffington Post.
Femen Quebec is Quebec’s chapter of Femen, a feminist protest group based in Paris founded in 2008 that is known for organizing topless protests in order to promote their message. Although Femen Quebec claims not to have an official position on the Charter of Values, they clearly had something to say at the legislative meeting.
The women’s outbursts were a reaction to the fact that the Charter promotes the hypocrisy in the Quebec government’s desire to create a broader sense of state secularism. In fact, Bill 60 would actually leave visible Christian symbols on public property, in the name of Quebec’s past, heritage, and culture. As The Huffington Post illustrated, the Crucifix would be left hanging in the chamber where the legislature makes the provincial laws, “Christmas trees would remain in public offices, and the giant cross would stay on the public land above Montreal’s Mount Royal,” all while public sector employees would be stripped of their right to wear their kippahs, turbans, and other religious garments the government deems “conspicuous”.
I have previously detailed my thoughts on the Charter of Values in a previous blog post. However, I would like to highlight Femen Quebec’s attempt to awaken the population and the government to the hypocrisy of this Bill, which is frighteningly underway as the January 14 public hearings held by the Committee on Institutions of the Quebec National Assembly are approaching soon.
Some may call it crude and unnecessary; inappropriate and crass, but the women have a point. The religious neutrality that is supposed to be inherent in the Quebec Charter of Values isn’t inherent at all. After all, how can one make laws promoting secularism standing under a Crucifix? How can one argue that religious symbols of Christianity can stay in the province’s public environment because of cultural significance, when religious symbols of Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism, just to name a few, are banned mainly because their cultural significance is deemed as problematic?
The women were quickly removed from the building as security guards halted the demonstration and struggled to redress them. But their message wasn’t quelled. The message of hypocrisy was heard loud and clear.
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2…
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read…
Photos obtained from: